I found myself inside a temple.
Standing right before a Bodhisattva statue.
Wasn't this Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?
Where was this, and what era was this?
Where was the Time-Space Houn?
I froze. The Time-Space Houn had actually disappeared.
I'd been careless. How had I not considered that there was a high chance the Time-Space Houn and I would be separated by time and space after entering a temporal node?
But it was too late for regrets now.
"Amitabha!" A voice sounded behind me. I turned around and saw a monk bowing to me with his palms together.
"Little Master, where is this? What year and month is it now?" I asked bluntly. I knew asking that might make people think there was something wrong with my head.
But I had no choice. I had to know where I was and what era this was.
The monk raised his head, and the instant I saw him, I jumped in fright.
He looked exactly like me. The only difference was that he had a shaved head, with six burn marks from Buddhist precepts on his scalp.
"Let's talk in the meditation room." He wore a smile.
I followed him behind the main hall. Along the way, I saw quite a few monks looking at me strangely, then glancing at the monk walking ahead of me from time to time. They had probably noticed how alike we looked, which was why they were so surprised.
The meditation room was antique and elegant, without the slightest trace of anything modern.
The room was spotlessly clean, carrying a faint fragrance of osmanthus.
Not far from the table stood a zither stand, with a Guqin resting on it.
On the table was a tea set that looked simple but was clearly worth a fortune. The water in